Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.
—Laozi, c. 500 BCQuotes
I work for a government I despise for ends I think criminal.
—John Maynard Keynes, 1917The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull.
—Dean Acheson, 1970O citizens, first acquire wealth; you can practice virtue afterward.
—Horace, c. 8 BCMy people and I have come to an agreement that satisfies us both. They are to say what they please, and I am to do what I please.
—Frederick the Great, c. 1770You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.
—Mario Cuomo, 1985To be turned from one’s course by men’s opinions, by blame, and by misrepresentation shows a man unfit to hold office.
—Quintus Fabius Maximus, c. 203 BCThe most hateful torment for men is to have knowledge of everything but power over nothing.
—Herodotus, c. 425 BCA government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul.
—George Bernard Shaw, 1944It is impossible to tell which of the two dispositions we find in men is more harmful in a republic, that which seeks to maintain an established position or that which has none but seeks to acquire it.
—Niccolò Machiavelli, c. 1515Why has the government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.
—Alexander Hamilton, 1787I’m president of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli!
—George H. W. Bush, 1990The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
—Thomas Jefferson, 1787